The present invention relates generally to the life sciences industry and more particularly to automated testing systems for conducting high throughput screening in the life sciences industry.
High throughput screening (HTS) is a well-known form of scientific experimentation in the life sciences industry which enables a research facility to conduct a large quantity of experiments at the same time. Specifically, in one form of high throughput screening which is well-known in the art, a plate is provided which includes a large number of isolated, miniaturized wells (e.g., 96, 384 or 1536 wells per plate), whereby a unique compound is disposed within each well. An array of different substances is then deposited into each well with the premise of discovering a desired reaction. In this manner, high throughput screening can be used to subject a particular substance to an entire library of compounds at the same time and, as a result, is highly useful in the discovery of new medicines, vaccines and biopharmaceuticals.
High throughput screening is often performed in an environmentally-controllable enclosure which is commonly referred to as a cell or chamber. As can be appreciated, a laboratory cell affords researchers with an enclosed environment that is most suitable for testing, which is highly desirable.
High throughput screening also traditionally relies on automation to conduct assays which are otherwise repetitive in nature, provided that the close control and intricate manipulative skills of human operators can be faithfully replicated using conventional robotics (e.g., multi-axis robots). Various types of laboratory automation tools are presently used in conjunction with high throughput screening. Examples of well-known laboratory automation tools range from simple semi-automated liquid handling devices to fully integrated automated systems that comprise, among other things, multiple robot arms, integrated lamp devices, pipetting stations, centrifuges, incubators, plate washers, and detectors.
It has been found that the use of automation in conjunction with high throughput screening (as well as other forms of experimentation in the life sciences industry) provides two principal advantages.
As a first advantage, automation significantly reduces the degree of human involvement required to conduct this form of experimentation, thereby providing research facilities with considerable advantages in both safety and overall laboratory costs, which is highly desirable.
As a second advantage, automation significantly improves the overall speed of testing. As a consequence, automation enables a greater number of assays to be performed in a shorter period of time, which is highly desirable.
It should be noted that certain automated laboratory devices that are used in conjunction with conducting experiments in the life sciences industry are typically fixedly mounted (e.g., bolted) either onto a common cell table or onto the workstation floor. As can be appreciated, each laboratory device must be locked in place to ensure that the device seamlessly integrates with the other laboratory devices at a high level of repeatability. With the laboratory device fixed in place, all of the necessary fluid and electrical inputs are the supplied to the laboratory device by a laboratory technician for use in its operation.
As can be appreciated, the applicant has discovered that the above-described method of integrating an automated laboratory device into an automated testing system introduces at least some of the following shortcomings.
As a first shortcoming, the above-described method of permanently securing an automated laboratory device to a particular surface greatly inhibits both (i) the future integration of additional laboratory devices and (ii) the repair and/or upgrading of the laboratory device. As a consequence, it has been found that the effective life of the automated system is minimized, which is highly undesirable.
As a second shortcoming, the above-described method of performing numerous, individualized, manual input connections into each automated laboratory device renders the entire installation process (i.e., system set-up) time-consuming, cumbersome and complex in nature, which is highly undesirable.
As a third shortcoming, the above-described method of permanently securing an automated laboratory device to a particular surface renders the device unavailable for use in conjunction with alternate testing throughout the lifespan of the system. Because certain laboratory devices are expensive to purchase, the inability to use a single laboratory device in conjunction with multiple simultaneous experiments substantially increases the costs incurred at a life science research facility, which is highly undesirable.